That Kind of a Rumour
by deluce
Summary: Chad has been in a relationship for two years, and always thought he was happy, but then this girl shows up with her big brown eyes, and bright smile and turns his world upside down.
1. Chapter 1

**A slight AU, still set in Hollywood but with the characters being slightly older and on a different show. I own nothing you recognise in this story.**

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**First Day (Chad)**

Chad pushed the heavy, squeaking door to Condor studios open with a slight struggle, he ducked inside quickly, with his breathing slightly ragged, after the unusually high Californian autumn breeze had taken it away from him. He entered the studio and shut the door behind him as fast as he could. He sighed with a self satisfied smile at the fact that he had managed to enter the studio unseen by anyone that he knew, and or deemed important in his current red cheeked and damp and tussled haired state. But more importantly to Chad, he was both happy, and impressed that he had been able to avoid any run ins with the paparazzi looking like he currently did.

The last couple of months had been crazier than usual for the young star on the paparazzi front. They had been everywhere he went, more so than usual. For the last few months, they had been outside his apartment, outside Condor studio-among other places- all trying to get candid shots of him and the other stars of Condor Studio's newest show, _Students_, a comedy show about a group of college students, that had been hyped up to be 'This generations Friends'. The show is due to start airing it's first episode within a few months, meaning that is they are going to stay on schedule, the cast and crew have to start filming as soon as possible.

He checked his phone for the time, only to realise that he had arrived at the studio a little early than asked, seven minutes earlier to be exact. But, Chad Dylan Cooper being early for anything, let alone work (The boy had appeared in various different TV shows as a one off character, or a minor recurring character in the past), was a rarity, and happened about as frequently as a leap year. Chad was notorious for being late, but he was a good actor, and that worked in his favour.

Chad looked around the all but empty studio, looking for signs of someone from hair and make-up who could make him look more presentable, as well as looking for any familiar faces of the few cast members he had met on publicity shoots and a few interviews. There were still two actors he had yet to meet, while he was searching for these people in the all but empty building, his eyes fell onto one of his fellow stars, and a somewhat 'Frienemy' of his from high school, Tawni Hart.

The blonde girl was sat on a fold out directors chair near the doughnut cart, and as usual she was looking at her reflection in her compact mirror, and apparently, she was liking what she saw. Chad sighed once more and rolled his eyes as he walked towards the girl, _at least talking to her will buy some time_, he thought. He took the seat next to her, Tawni saw Chad from her peripheral vision and said, "Well as I live and breath, Chad Dylan Cooper is early for something." She turned to face the boy closing her compact mirror. "Wow," she said there was a small laugh in her voice, her bright eyes widened as she took in the sight of the windswept boy to her side.

She didn't need to say anything more than this to send Chad into a state of panic. He snatched the mirror from her and frantically checked his own reflection. As soon as he saw himself in the mirror he realised, that while he had looked better, that even with his hair stuck out in all different directions, thanks to the wind; that he could have looked worse, much worse. But still, this thought didn't stop him from running a hand through his hair trying to neaten it out before anyone else could see him looking like this. He turned to face the blonde to his side, who was laughing hysterically. He narrowed his eyes at the blonde who tried to curb her laughter. It was hard, she really couldn't not laugh at him when he reacted this way. Tawni teased everyone she knew like this, but she got so much more enjoyment out of watching Chad freak out then anyone else. It had always been that way. Ever since they met six years ago at the age of fifteen.

"You know," Chad said, "You don't look as good as you think you do." He continued, "And you definitely aren't as funny as you think you are, so good look with this new comedy show." Chad snarked. Tawni rolled her eyes, she snatched her mirror back from him and opened it up again, before she started to apply more of her favourite lipstick, for what Chad could easily guess was at least the second time in an hour.

"Oh please," she said, "You of all people know that I am pretty and hilarious." She replied. The tone of her voice suggested that she thought, and knew this all too well. It was Chad who rolled his eyes this time, though he had gotten used to her narcissism, sometime ago actually, it still never failed to amaze him, just how egotistical she could be. Even though he himself could be very narcissistic at times. He liked to believe that, if it ever came down to a contest between the two of them on who had the biggest ego, that she would win.

Chad turned away from Tawni and looked around the room, watching as the crew sat or walked around with tired looks on their faces. He guessed it was true; no matter what your job is, you hate it. Or at least that's what people have told him in the past. It's safe to say that Chad can vouch for that statement, even though he is an actor, and is living his dream, there have been times he has dreaded going into work, to do a scene that would last roughly five minutes if he was lucky.

"Why did Mr. Condor want us here so early?" Chad asked in a sullen tone, he pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time once more to see that is was almost ten, which meant that the other cast members would, or should, be there soon, and the day's work could begin. Chad hated working in the morning, mainly because he hated waking up early in the mornings.

"Stop complaining." Tawni replied, she closed the mirror with a small, yet happy and content sigh. She turned to face Chad and said, "Yes, we had to be up early, I'll admit that I would have liked to have stayed in bed just a little longer." She continued, "But this is the first day of rehearsal, and soon we'll be filming, and making money." She beamed, her smile growing the more she thought about it, "And once the show starts to air, people will want more interviews, getting us more publicity and more work." She shrugged, "I like the sound of that." She said, "Besides, today is the first day that the six stars of the show are going to be all together at the same time. So Marshall and Mr. Condor wanted us here early so we could all meet each other properly."

"So who is it that you haven't met yet, then?" Chad asked, they had all seen pictures of each of the cast members, Chad had made sure that he had scouted them all out by watching clips of them acting in previous things online. He had wanted to make sure that they weren't all talentless, or worse, better than him. This was something that Chad worried about. He didn't mind so much with the actresses, he just liked knowing there wouldn't be much competition between him and the other males on set.

"Grady and Nico," Tawni replied dryly, the look on her face gave the impression that the two names had left a bad taste in her mouth. "Just seeing their head shots was enough to let me know that I don't want to know these boys." She said. Tawni paused and looked down at her nails before looking back up at Chad, "What about you?" She asked.

"Grady and Nico," Tawni replied dryly as if their names left a bad taste in her mouth, "Just seeing their head shots and watching them act was enough to let me know, I don't want to know them." She said, she paused and looked down at her nails before asking, "What about you?"

"Grady and some girl called Sonny." He replied.

"Yeah. I've met her." Tawni said screwing her face up slightly.

"Wait, what's that face for?" Chad asked with a slight panicked chuckle.

"Nothing." Tawni said with a small shrug, "All I am going to say is wait until you meet her." The blonde girl turned her mouth down as id meeting Sonny was going to be a bad, no terrible thing. This instantly put Chad on edge. he had seen pictures of Sonny in magazines, and even in the form of her head shot, he had also seen clips of her acting, all he knew about this girl is that she had talent, and beauty, she had them both in spades. But Tawni had actually met the girl, and there was something in the way she spoke about her that made Chad feel ominous about meeting her.

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**This is my first SWAC story, so I apologise if anyone is OOC; I am trying my best. So this was just a short chapter as a sort of introduction. The chapters in this story will alternate between Chad and Sonny third person POV. Please read and review, let me know what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2

**First Impressions (Sonny)**

Sonny stepped out from the warmth of the bright yellow taxi cab and out into the wind and rain. She pulled her hood up and thanked the driver with a cheery smile. She waved at him as he drove away. The wind had picked up slightly since she had woken up early that morning. The cold air now took Sonny's breath away. The strong gusts of wind made her stumble backwards from their force. It was more good luck than management that kept Sonny on her feet. She had her hands on either side of the large hood of her jacket, gripping it tightly too prevent the wind from blowing it anywhere. The last thing Sonny wanted was to look a mess on her first day.

She squinted against the heavy wind and rain, she sighed and took a look around her, taking in every one of her surroundings, she looked up at the large white studio in front of her. The first thing that she noticed was the large poster hanging outside the building. The picture featured the six main characters or _Students_, it was the image that they had been using a lot to sell the new show, there were more pictures Sonny had seen them in smaller editorials in magazines, but it had been this image that had proven the most popular in the media. Though Sonny had her picture taken separately from the other cast members, as she assumed they all had, the final image had been edited to make it look like the six of them were together in a college dorm room surrounded by books and empty beer bottles, each of them had messy hair, and the girls had slightly smudged make up to give the effect of them having hangovers. Sonny couldn't not smile at the image, and the girl found it hard to keep her eyes off of herself. She was more than impressed with the Photoshop skills that had been used in crating this one image.

Now that she was actually in LA and was stood outside Condor Studios- a place she would soon be spending a good portion of her time, doing something that she had always dreamed of- everything seemed much bigger than she ever thought it would. Though, to herself at least, Sonny seemed smaller. Much smaller. The butterflies that had been pestering her for the past few weeks were back, and with a vengeance. They were going wild in the pit of her stomach, making the young actress feel nauseous and uneasy.

She had tried to calm herself down numerous times within that morning alone. Though all of her attempts had been to no avail. Multiple times she had tried to tell herself that today was no big deal, and was nothing to worry about, that she should be excited not scared. She knew that she had faced experiences in her life that were worse than this one. Still, she found it hard to believe her own words, she doubted herself, this was something that Sonny had always had to deal with, but never more than now. She kept telling herself, that she could be replaced at any moment, she would tell her self this over and over again in her head, like some kind of mantra. They hadn't even started to film yet, all they had been able to release had been small clips of screen tests and small clips of their auditions. Sonny knew that all it would take from her would be one false move, and her dream could be over before it had even begun.

Sure, people from the press knew that she had been cast. and was due to play a crucial role in the new show, but to have her cut from it, and be replaced by one of the other actresses who had auditioned, would be like a gold mine to the press. Sonny knew that they yearned for things like that to happen, it's what they lived for. This fact was something the struck fear deep inside Sonny, and scared her to her very core. She had seen people be axed from a show before after a pilot episode had aired, more than once.

It was at night that Sonny's fears and nerves reached their pinnacles. At night she had nothing to do to take her mind off of it. All she could do was let her mind wonder as she laid in bed. Her mind would always wonder to those dark crevasses of her mind where her fears and doubts lived. She worried about it so much that it kept her from sleeping. She had lost count of how many times she had woken her mother with a late night phone call, or had even woken her sister and room-mate, Lynn. Sonny had always been able to rely on the two of them. They were some sort of stability in her life, any problem that she had she would tell them about it. She would ask their advice, or even drop subtle hints about something before going into a full story about how she was feeling, just to see what they would make of her situation. Lynn and their mother, Connie, had always been Sonny's confidants. She had very little secrets that she couldn't tell at least one of them.

It was easy for Sonny to express her fears and feelings to both of them. She didn't even need to think about it, she could just sit down with them, and pour out her soul; she knew neither of them would judge her, especially when she needed to discuss things like this. It was more often than not that the two older Monroe girls would give Sonny the same advice. Lately both of them had been telling her that she has nothing to worry about, and that she was an incredibly talented and funny girl who deserves everything she had.

Still, Sonny couldn't help but tell herself that they were morally obligated to tell her these things. After all, one of them was her mother and the other was her elder sister and best friend. Even if they thought she was going to flop, she knew they wouldn't tell her that, well, Lynn might but her mother wouldn't dream of it. Lynn always could be a little critical, which is why Sonny trusted her opinion so much.

For a while now, Lynn had been telling her that the rehearsal process meant nothing, and that weren't even anything that she should be worrying about. That she would breeze through them easily enough and would be off book before she knew it, making money doing what she loved the most and what she was best at.

It was more than just the prospect of learning lines and rehearsing that was scaring Sonny. She had done that many times before in the past, she had been in a couple of commercials, and had played characters that had appeared once or twice in one or two episodes of shows- this included voice over parts in animated TV shows- she had also performed in off Broadway shows, and had had a small role in a Broadway production of _Westside Story._ Most of her acting opportunity's she had had recently had come from the college she attended until the summer. Casting agents would sometimes show up at the performances, and obviously, her agent helped.

Sonny had spent a year studying at a performing arts college in New York, it was only when she found about _Students _after her agent- who she had been with for years now- contacted her with the news of a new show that had a character she would be 'just perfect' for. Sonny had decided to throw caution to the wind, and take a leap of faith by travelling from New York to LA to audition for the role of Jenna Mitchell. She had attended her first audition and had breezed through it. Once she had had a couple of call backs, which seemed promising, she decided to drop out of college, leave New York and make the move to California. She wouldn't have ever dreamed of moving full time to LA had she not known someone who lived there. With Lynn studying in California, and having her own place, she had used her sister as a safety net, knowing she would take her in.

Even if it hadn't worked out for her, and her plan had back fired meaning she had to bus tables until the next acting opportunity presented it's self, she knew she would have somewhere to stay and call home. Sonny knew that leaving college to chase her dream had been a little stupid, and had been a huge risk- which had paid off- it was risk that she couldn't not take. She would rather lose everything knowing that she tried than live her life wondering 'what if?'

She loved acting, she always had, even when people at school had told her it was a waste of time, and there was very little chance of her making it, because not many people ever did, she wouldn't listen, it's what she wanted and she was determined not to stop until she got it. It was her dream. Her dream started with her studying in New York- though in her dream she had actually graduated rather than dropping out- after college came the move to LA to make it big in Hollywood. She hadn't anticipated that she would have this by the time she was nineteen. She had tried to break into acting since she was little, and had attended many auditions in the past but hadn't had any real luck until she got into middle school. That's when she had landed her first commercial. But it wasn't until now that she had achieved any major success.

Now, she couldn't wait for filming to begin, she wanted rehearsals to be over, so that they could film the first season, and people could see the show, she couldn't wait to see it herself once it had been put together, she had read and reread parts of the script and had fallen in love with the characters and story lines, she had laughed at the jokes, and couldn't wait to see how they translated when they were acted out.

Or at least, that's how she felt at the beginning, there is still the under laying excitement, mixed with the bundle of nerves that knot in her stomach as the butterflies relentlessly flap their wings. Then there is the nagging feeling lodged deep within the confines of her mind, to say the least Sonny Monroe is currently a mess.

Ever since she had gotten the phone call from Marshal Pike, the executive producer and casting director of _Students_, saying she had got the part Sonny had started to feel the butterflies, at first, she put it down to the excitement of achieving her dream and having a new job, sure, she knew a small amount of it was nerves. But as the days became nights, and she came closer and closer to her first day of rehearsal, the butterflies seemed to get more persistent, and her anxieties started to grow, it was then that Sonny realised fear had a small amount to do with how she was feeling.

They were stupid fears, and somewhere, deep down she new that. But that didn't stop the small voice in her head saying she didn't belong in LA, and that the city was far to big for a small town girl like herself. She felt she wasn't quite right for the glamorous life of Hollywood, and that LA and California were more suited to her sister, Sonny believed that Lynn was the Monroe who truly belonged here.

Her fears had only been intensified when she had watched clips of her fellow cast members acting, that had been when her worry had truly kicked in. She couldn't help but compare herself to the other actresses and actors. Today she had the added fear of meeting the last two cast mates she would be working with; a young girl named Zora Lancaster, who was the youngest member of the cast. Since Zora was still in high school she only had a minor recurring role, she was going to be playing Sonny's little sister in the show, and was scheduled to appear in ten of the twenty-four episodes in season one. She had been slightly envious of Zora when she first watched her act and read about her, she was four years younger than Sonny, and had already reached Hollywood, she had had her first job when she was a child. Other than Zora Sonny had only one more person to meet, Chad Dylan Cooper. A boy who she had heard enough about to last her a life time.

Though Chad wasn't am A list celebrity, he was well known he also liked to think that he was a big deal. Most of the things Sonny had heard about had been bad. She had read that he could be very demanding, and a little bit of a diva, while also thinking that he was god's gift to women. The only good thing she had ever heard about Chad was that he could act, of course she had found this out when she watched clips of him online. He had talent, a lot of it, that was something Sonny couldn't deny. It was also something that he knew about himself, maybe all too well.

She had seen images of both Chad and Zora, and since she was yet to meet them, all Sonny had were their looks as a source of first impressions. Sonny didn't like to judge people, and hated when people were judged for how they looked, and hated those that judged people by their looks even more. So, she cleared her head on everything she had seen of them, and even tried to clear her mind on what she had heard about Chad, for all she knew they were false. She wanted to have an open mind on her situation.

She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves the best that she could. She took her first step towards Condor Studios, with her heart beating rapidly in her chest, she could feel her hands shaking by her sides. Never before had she felt nerves like this. Even when she first moved away from Wisconsin, she wasn't this scared.

As she walked into the studio her mouth fell slightly agape, she looked around trying to soak up every aspect and facet of the building. She wanted to remember everything. Every sight that she saw, every scent that she smelt, and every sound that she heard. She had achieved her dream, a dream she had been working hard for for years. A dream she knew she had a very slim chance of actually achieving. All the small parts she had had here and there, the commercials she had done to pay her dues, they had all boiled down to this.

Sonny continued to slowly make her way through the studio, she didn't want to rush past anything. She had been told to meet with the rest of the cast on the set down at stage two. The building was all but empty.

The emptiness didn't change any as Sonny got closer to stage two. She had hoped that she would see at least one familiar face upon her arrival, She had hoped that Grady or Nico would be somewhere near. She had built a small rapport with the two boys over the weeks since she met them. They had been easy to get along with during the screen tests. She would regularly meet up with one or both of them to get lunch or to go see a movie.

She pulled out her cell phone from her back pocket and quickly checked the time with shaking hands. She hoped that she hand't arrived to early and would be stuck waiting around for everyone else, or worse, she hoped she hadn't arrived late. She furrowed her brow when she saw that it was only just 10:00 a.m. She placed her phone back in her pocket and turned her mouth down in thought, they had been told to meet around ten, so where was everyone else? She thought as she continued to make her way through the building. She smiled at the odd crew member as she passed them by, though, they seemed to lack the enthusiasm that she had.

She reached stage two and pushed the doors open with ease. She walked onto the set with her eyes wide. The set had been made to look like a dorm room. There were two single beds on set, and a closet at foot of each, and a desk at the head of each bed, giving the actors and actresses little room to manoeuvre.

From what little of the script Sonny had seen, and had auditioned with, she recognised this setting as her first scene in the show, and one of the first scenes in the piloting episode. Sonny looked around quickly, making sure she wasn't being watched. When she saw that the coast was clear, she walked towards the set and began to assess the props and scenery. She dropped herself onto one of the beds and squealed quietly, kicking her legs slightly as she did. She jumped up and crossed the room to the closet.

She opened the closet and let out a startled scream, which was quickly followed by aq scream of a much higher pitch coming from inside the now open closet. Sonny stepped back with her hand over her heart, which was now beating wildly in her chest, though this time it was more from being startled more than from her nerves.

"Don't you knock?" A shocked voice asked, the own of the voice was breathing heavily, and was staring wide eyed at Sonny. She stepped from the closest, her eyes never leaving the dark haired girl.

"I-I'm sorry, I thought I was alone." Sonny explained, "I didn't realise anyone else was here, or in there." She said pushing the closet door to close it.

"Well it's to be hoped you would have actually knocked had you known. I like my privacy." The girl said, scowling slightly at her. She looked Sonny up and down taking in every inch of her, trying to figure her out. "Huh, you must be Sonny." She said pointing at her.

Sonny nodded her head and gave the girl a bright, wide smile. "Yeah I am," she said, "And you're Zora, right?" She beamed at the younger girl, looking down at her slightly. Though the girl was younger than Sonny, she realised there wasn't much between them in height. Sonny held her hand out for the younger girl to shake. Zora looked down at Sonny's hand and then back at her face with a quirked eyebrow. Sonny put her arm down when she realised that Zora wasn't going to reciprocate the hand shake.

"Yeah, I am." The younger girl replied.

"Well it's very nice to meet you." Sonny said.

"You know it's weird, Tawni told me about you." The smaller girl said, Sonny's smile never faltered, "Ha, she was way off." She said.

"Way off? " Sonny asked, "About what?" She said with a small , nervous chuckle. Though she feared that the blonde girl would talk about her when her back was turned- she knew how catty girls could be, especially in the show business world- she couldn't help but wonder what it was that the blonde girl had actually said to the others. Especially, if Zora claimed she had been wrong. Zora turned on her heel and started to walk away from the elder girl, "Off about what?" Sonny asked again, the panic soon returning to her body. Zora continued to ignore her as she walked away, leaving her alone, slightly confused and more panicked than before.

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**So here is chapter two, it's a little longer than the last chapter, I couldn't not have Sonny meet Zora in a similar way to on the show, it just seemed right to have this happen. Please read and review. Thanks to those that have already reviewed, I appreciate it, and thanks for the follow; RaInDroPs614. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Rehearsal Time (Chad)**

Chad looked at himself one last time in the mirror, the hair and make up man, (who he had learned was a college interne named, Joel, and was only working at the studio to gain himself some extra credit at beauty school), had done an amazing job of neatening him up and making him look much more presentable after the rain had gotten to him that morning.

"Wow, look at that," Chad said, "I just keep getting better looking, I honestly don't know how I do it, but I definitely do." He said cockily, smiling at his own reflection and sending a wink the mirrors way. The actor turned his head this way and that, just so that he could seem himself from more angles and to make sure that he looked just as good from all of them.

Joel rolled his eyes somewhat playfully before saying, "Yes a small amount of make-up can work wonders on a person," Joel had a thick South Carolinian accent, and a slightly feminine voice, "I think that it is very safe to say that I am incredible at what I do." He continued, smiling brightly at Chad.

Chad scoffed, "Oh please," he said, never taking his eyes off of his reflection. "You had my face to work with, I did half of the work just looking this good and by being here, you can't make just anyone look good, I mean, polish a turd and it's still a turd right?" He asked, "you have to look good before make-up to look good after it as well." He said, he straightened out his clothing, all the while still looking in the large mirror, "Well. I'd better get going now. Mr. Condor and Marshall are expecting me. Though, they can't exactly start without their star."

"Doesn't this show have six so called, stars?" Joel asked narrowing his eyes, he used air quotations around the word 'stars'.

Chad turned his mouth down in thought, before shaking his head, "No. I don't think there is." He said before standing up from his chair and starting to walk away from the other boy. Chad stopped and turned back around to face Joel. "Well thanks for everything, Joe."

"It's Joel, actually." He corrected with a weak smile and a small half-hearted shrug. .

"Yeah, I don't really care." Chad said shaking his head slightly and making his way to stage two. He took his time while he was walking, taking in every aspect of the studio; he had been in many different studios, many different times, with his previous jobs. But today, being here just felt different to him, there was something about it, something Chad couldn't quite put his finger on.

Chad had never been one to care about being on time; in fact, he liked making people wait, more than that he liked knowing people were willing to wait for him, especially in a situation like this, that's why he was usually late for work.

As Chad rounded one of the corners in the long hallway that led to the staging area he saw Tawni turning the other corner, to head to the same stage as him. She was looking down at her phone, paying no attention to the world around her. "Hey." Chad said, snapping the blonde's attention away from her texting. "What are you doing here?" He asked, "Shouldn't you already be there?"

Chad liked to make an entrance, he liked when all eyes in a room were on him, he wanted it to be like that at all times, there was nothing he liked more than being in the spot light. That's why he referred to himself as the 'star' of the show. It made him feel a little bit better about there being five other stars to the show.

He knew that if he made his appearance at the same time as Tawni, he would have to share some of the attention with her, this was something that didn't really appeal to Chad. Even sharing a small amount of the spotlight was a big no-go for the actor.

That's why he rarely- if he ever- dated girls that were in show business and had made a name for themselves in Hollywood. He liked to be the more 'powerful' one in the relationship. Just like with his current one.

Chad has met his girlfriend, Louisa, two years ago while he still studying at college, the pair had met just before he dropped out to pursue a full time acting career. Chad loved, Louisa, there was no questioning it. But, he also loved knowing that he had more status than she did, and would probably ever have. He liked knowing that any red carpet event that they attended together, people were more interested in him than her.

"I just wanted to look at my dressing room, y'know before we started work?" Tawni said in a slightly irritated tone, "It looks like they want me to share my dressing room with that other girl." She said. She sighed in exasperation, and looked at Chad "Why are you still here?"

"Just thought I'd take a walk." He said, "Sorry to hear about the dressing room thing." He added sardonically. "It must really suck to be you." He continued in a mocking tone. He started to laugh and began to walk away from her in the direction of stage two once more.

"You say that now, but I wouldn't be all that surprised if they wanted you to share as well." She replied. She knew all too well that Chad would hate sharing a dressing room; he had always had a problem with sharing. It didn't take Tawni long to catch up to Chad while he was walking. He grabbed her by the elbow just before she past him his action stopped the blonde in her tracks. His smile was no longer present on his face.

"W-wait, what?" He asked there was a small nervous crack in his voice now when he spoke to the girl. A small smile crept along Tawni's face, she knew that what she said would bother him, but it was only now she was realising how much of an effect it would have on the boy.

"Well, I guess we'll all have to share with at least one cast member," she said, "maybe even two, in your case." She shrugged slightly. Though she still wasn't happy about having to share her dressing room with the girl Chad was yet to meet, she was taking a great amount of pleasure in messing with Chad.

Chad shook his head firmly. "No." He said, "No way." He continued, "I don't share, I am not sharing a dressing room with anybody." He said, he paused slightly as he took in the look on Tawni's face, "I am not… am I?" He asked.

"It must really suck to be you." Tawni said mimicking the voice Chad has used on her just moments ago. She shook his hand off of her elbow and walked away from him, her heeled shoes tapping on the floor as she went.

"That was the worst impression ever." Chad said, frustration evident in his voice. He rushed to keep up with the blonde, supposing he had better get used to the idea of sharing the limelight, especially if he would have to share a dressing room for the duration of the show.

When Chad reached stage two, his eyes widened at the sight before him. Again, he had been on sets for TV shows, and he had seen how they work and the way the look. But all of this suddenly felt so new to the boy, he just didn't know why. He started to walk around the set.

He sat on the bed, and walked around the fake dorm room, stopping to open the drawers in one of the desks, before he stepped towards the closet.

"I wouldn't open that thing if I were you." A raspy voice said from behind him.

"Really?" He asked in a slightly arrogant voice, "And why is that?" He asked whirling around to see the owner of the voice, his eyes fell on one of the other cast members of _Students_, it was the other leading girl, the one that Tawni had warned him about just that morning.

As he stood there looking at her, he found it hard to tear his eyes away from hers that had been the first thing he had noticed about her. Her eyes.

He noticed the darkness of them, and the way they were shaped, paired with how big they were, he didn't think that he's ever seen such big, beautiful, brown eyes before in his life. He couldn't help but notice how the wind had smudged her eye makeup slightly, and that she didn't even seem to care all that much about it. That, or she was unaware of the fact that it had happened.

Chad remembered seeing many pictures of this girl, he wasn't ashamed to say that after seeing her head shot he had googled her, but that was just to get a better idea of who she was, and to see what work she had done prior to _Students_, it had been then that he had found the videos of her acting in the past.

Chad remembered all of the pictures he had seen of her, and of course he remembered her being an attractive girl, but now that he was stood face to face with her, it was plane to see that those pictures hadn't done her any justice.

"Well..." she started, "When I opened it earlier, I found a small child hiding in it." She said with a small shrug of her shoulders.

He let out a small breathy laugh; "I'm guessing you met Zora then?" He asked, the girl nodded her head slowly, Chad widened his eyes, "Yeah, I've met her, kid can be a little freaky."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I'll admit, it wasn't exactly the best way to meet somebody new, but I suppose that it could have always been worse… I mean, she seems nice enough to me." She said, the girl held her hand out to Chad and smiled at him brightly, "Anyway, uh, I'm Sonny." She said.

"Chad," he replied, "Dylan Cooper." He hesitantly took Sonny's hand in his and shook it once, he couldn't help but notice how soft and warm her skin was against his.

"Monroe," she said, "I'm Sonny Monroe." She pointed to herself, still smiling, Chad widened his eyes at the girl, and looked at her like she was insane, _are all the pretty one's crazy?_ He asked himself, a small smile slowly crept along his face as he looked at her, he hadn't seen someone smile so much in a long time. Sonny shifted under Chad's gaze as an awkward silence hung between them. It was Sonny who broke it first, "So…" she said, "Are you nervous?"

"No." Chad replied, it was a small lie though, he was nervous, he had been nervous building up to this point, and her only felt more nervous now that Sonny had showed up, he remembered her to be attractive from her pictures and that had turned out to be a huge understatement, would the same go for her acting, too? Chad wasn't sure if he was ready for that. He didn't want her to be unbelievably attractive and to be a knock out actress as well. "Why, are you?" He asked her with a small breathy laugh.

Sonny nodded her head slightly, "Well yeah, a little, maybe more than just a little." She said, "I mean, I've done stuff like this before, but I've never been one of the leading rolls, I'm usual a minor recurring role, but nothing like this." She admitted, "I'm sure I'll be okay." She said, her voice cracking on the word 'okay'. She cleared her throat and said, "I think I just need to get in there and get going with this table read, so we can start blocking the scenes."

"I just don't get why you're so nervous." He said, "I mean it's only a table read and then a quick rehearsal." He said, a small amount of arrogance edging it's way into his voice. He mentally kicked himself when he saw how Sonny's disposition seemed to change around him; her smile seemed to instantly vanish from her face.

"Yeah, I know that it's only a rehearsal, but it's a really important one, I know they're all important, but this one kind of sets the precedent for us all, we have to go in there and do a read for an entirely new show, around people that we've met but we don't know. We are all the stars of this, and this is like nothing I have ever done before, I don't know about you, but I've got quite a lot riding on this." She said with a small shrug, "So yeah I'm nervous, but it's just because I'm scared of screwing all of this up before it's even really started." Chad was surprised at how quickly her tone of voice had changed. Annoyance seemed to drip off of her every word, and he was sure that her eyes seemed to get a shade darker as she got angrier.

"B-but why?" He said, "I mean, what's the worst that can happen seriously?'

Sonny shrugged her shoulders, "Re-casting." She said in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice that seemed to send a whole new barrel of nerves into Chad's system. "We are literally doing the read for the pilot today," she said, "Which means we'll be starting to film very soon," she said, "if we mess up, they won't be scared of getting one of the other auditionees to take our roles, there were enough of them."

"Ha, please." He said, he adjusted his jacket slightly and shook his head, "They won't replace me… they can't," he said, "I'm Chad Dylan Cooper."

The dark haired girl shrugged her shoulders, "Personally, I don't who you are, and I don't think the producers will either, if we mess up there is nothing stopping them from sending us packing, they'll want this to go well, which means we have to be practically perfect."

"Pffft." Chad said, "Whatever."

She sighed and shrugged once again, "Suit yourself," she said, "But I'm gonna make my way to the table read, because we're a little late now." She said, she turned on her heel and started to walk away from the boy.

He stood stock still on the spot, not really knowing what to do, or say, the only thing that he could think was; _For once, Tawni might have been right about something_.

* * *

**So yeah, that was a ridiculously long wait for an update, so sorry… but I haven't abandoned this story, I just got a lot of writers block for it, and I got side tracked by other stuff, I love Channy way too much to drop this story though, so here is the third chapter. Once again, I apologise for that wait, but I'm a bit shit. **


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